Chapter 307

Walsard’s Control Room, Administrative Layer - 1:28 PM

I wiped the blue, red, and green blood coating Asi off on one of the office chairs Seraphim’s staff had been sitting in. There had been three lesser administrators, or whatever they were, at the time of arrival. A very orange individual who wore clothes the same shade as his skin and hair, some kind of sentient pine tree with garland arms, and a yeti.

They were surprised enough by our entrance that I was able to slay the first two in the first few seconds. The Dealer’s loud, enthusiastic devouring of Seraphim’s body horrified the tree long enough for me to slice it into enough pieces that it stopped moving. None put up a fight, just like the fake Angel himself, and I mentally ordered Asi to hover behind me once the blade was no longer bloodied.

My gaze traveled across the room as I realized that I could see again. It was different from using my eyes, but everything was clear as day to me anyway. I assumed it was the Entwined With The System skill again. It had given me the Euclidean Traveler perk, which allowed me to comprehend and traverse impossible spaces without hardship. This was pretty handy, even if I was going to be blind again the moment I left the administrative layer.

I scowled with disgust as I turned to the alligator man. “Must you?” I asked, crossing my arms.

The Dealer wiped away the administrator’s blue blood with a rather dainty handkerchief as if he hadn’t just finished his best impression a meat grinder, and offered me a sheepish grin. “I must,” he answered. “I’ll explain once I’m done.”

“You’d best, because we’re going to have one hell of a discussion,” I told him, and he nodded before moving on to the yeti.

It was difficult to take in the rest of the room with the sound of the Dealer eating his new meals, but I made do. I had been through worse.

The control room was set up like a mix between an office and the bridge of a starship on a TV show. Very few pieces of furniture matched up. The orange guy had been sitting in a sleek metal chair in front of a plain, light wooden desk, and the yeti had been perched on a bar stool while staring at a hologram coming out of a slim black divider sitting on his chrome table.

Hundreds of screens lined the walls, showing off different scenes from in and around Etson and Stanley. I picked out locations from both pretty easily, and watched what was happening. Each one followed different people, though the only criteria I could guess at was that each had something exciting going on.

That group was exploring a dungeon, another was in a heated argument over loot as they stood over the carcass of some kind of deer monster in the woods, and another had a pair entangled in an intimate act. It seemed wrong to keep watching that particular scene, so I kept scanning.

My gaze finally ended on two large screens stacked one on top of the other which were at least ten times the size of the others. The top one showed Todd, the Amalgamancer in Stanley who had come to help with the Vespae Hive.

He, Carl, and a few others were fighting their way through the city streets to reach some goal on the other side of a platoon of cardboard soldiers. They were sturdier than they looked, but the Amalgams were tearing them apart.

The one beneath had been black, but my gaze turned to it as the picture came back. Tommy, Gabrielle, and the others were standing in the broken down house that I had just left. They were staring at the place I had disappeared. Frowning, I focused on them. Their voices became clear.

“—just ganked an administrator!” Gabrielle exclaimed, pointing at the puddles of blue blood left behind.

“He’s the chosen one,” Clair said giddily. “Did you see him take on his body double?”

“Anthony’s much stronger than any of us gave him credit for,” Cory replied. “Do you think he’s coming back?”

“If he does, he does. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t,” Tommy grumbled, putting a hand on his bald head. “What happened with Seraphim stays with us, right? That’s what he wanted from us, so that’s what he’s going to get.”

“No argument here,” John said with a shake of his head. He was still staring at the blood.

“But we can talk about how he killed that look alike, right?” Matt asked as he swiped open his menu, pointing at a spot he had to know everyone else couldn’t see. “It’s clear as day that he’s the MVP. People are going to ask.”

The Citizen’s Justicar considered this for a moment, but I was pulled out of the scene when a scaly paw was placed on my shoulder. I jerked, Asi moving to protect me, but I made sure it didn’t attack the unsuspecting treasure hunter.

Though, I suspected he was more than that now.

“I need answers,” I told him. “Actual answers, and not just you trying to avoid the system’s filters on what you can tell players.”

The Dealer met my gaze and his jaw shifted. His handkerchief was now soaked in red, green, and blue, and he put it away in the pocket of his overalls. He adjusted the spectacles on his snout, and looked around the room.

“I suppose if the system didn’t whisk me off into the void for talking about things before, it’s not going to now,” he conceded slowly. “It’s strange, though. I get the feeling that I’m supposed to tell you things, and I don’t like it. The system is fickle; I’m not sure how much I trust its altruism.”

“You can feel the system?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

He sighed as he pulled up the yeti’s bar stool. At his gesture, I Constructed a chair and took a seat in front of him just as he sat down. “More so after my meals, but yeah. That’s also why I know we don’t have a lot of time before you’re rejected and sent back into the world. You players aren’t exactly welcome here,” he said. “Before I get started, is there anywhere you’d like me to send you if you’re kicked out early? Within the administrator’s area, I mean.”

“I’m supposed to meet Jamie at Stanley’s train station,” I answered.

With a nod, the Dealer tapped the air in front of him. “Okay, easy enough. I’ll have a little gift for you there, too. Then, I want to know what you’ve managed to figure out since the last time you were here.”

Taking a breath, I leaned back into my chair and tapped the armrests. “The fact that administrators used to be players is the biggest one,” I answered before looking around again. “I imagine Abbatrastoria had a room like this one, though I have no idea if he had any help like Seraphim— I mean, Walsard did here. Survivors, at least, if not winners.”

“How do you know his name?” the Dealer asked, interrupting me.

“Arontalscion told me when he descended in Dublin,” I replied.

The alligator’s eyes shot open. “The Fallen came to Earth?”

I nodded. “Same as how I summoned Sara, yeah. I assumed it was because it happened to her, so it could happen to him. Coe Valen was chosen as his champion. Well, one of his champions. Apparently, he has backups. You can get the whole story later.”

“Sounds like it might be worth watching,” he said, his eyes glancing towards the screens. When I just nodded, he worked his jaw again.

“Having trouble getting the words out?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Dealer chuckled. “I’ve spent a lot of time making sure I don’t let any information leak that isn’t supposed to already be out there in the world. Giving it away for free doesn’t feel right.”

That made me cross my arms. “Considering you had me fighting Abbatrastoria while you gathered whatever odds and ends you wanted, leaving me to essentially die since we didn’t know I could kill the administrators at the time, let’s say you owe me a hefty debt.”

“That’s fair,” he admitted. The bar stool creaked as he shifted on it, and the tip of his tail softly slapped against the linoleum floor. “Alright, so probably best to start with what you brought up. Yes, the administrators are players from previous versions of the system on different worlds. The survivors, anyway.”

I didn’t like that at all. The thought of these bastards going through these scenarios and then deciding they wanted to be in power repulsed me to my very core. 

On one hand, I could understand it. Gaining authority was a big step towards overcoming the feeling of helplessness. Becoming as strong as the administrators with their, at one time, complete immortality must have been a tempting offer to those who couldn’t handle what they had gone through.

On the other hand, how dare they throw so many lives away after going through the same thing? Who did they think they were putting others through such a traumatic and heartbreaking situation? It was one thing to want to feel like you were in control, but going from abused to abuser was a disgusting transition.

I tamped down the feelings welling up inside me. This wasn’t the time nor the place. “Different worlds. Okay, cool. Continue.”

He grimaced at the steel in my voice, but did as instructed. “Not everybody is selected to move on to the next. It depends on a lot of factors that I don’t really understand, if I’m being honest.”

“Like willingness to inflict harm on wide swathes of people,” I stated.

“For some, though there are those who have come from desperation and fear,” he replied with a shake of his head. “Those are usually the ones I get in contact with. They’re the administrators who usually aren’t in charge, but don’t agree with the way things are handled.”

“I’ve never met an administrator who doesn’t agree with the way things are handled,” I shot back.

“Yes, you have,” he insisted. “They don’t see the light of day because they don’t usually get put into leadership positions. These are the background workers that try to make things better in more subtle ways.”

I glanced towards the remains of the trio of lesser administrators I had killed. “Is that so?”

“Don’t worry, each of the ones here fell firmly into the asshole category,” the Dealer quickly explained, holding his hands up. “I wouldn’t let you kill any of my insiders. That would just be bad for business.”

The gore held my gaze for a moment longer before I looked at the alligator. “What does eating them do for you?” I asked. He sat up straighter but didn’t answer my question right away. It seemed like he was trying to figure out exactly how to give me some bad news. “Come on, man. Out with it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled before clearing his throat. “I know that you’ve seen administrators who have rebelled against the administration because… every treasure hunter falls under that umbrella.”

I crossed my arms. That wasn’t exactly anything groundbreaking after learning the truth already. “I believe it.”

“We treasure hunters are the rebels, and we lose the spark that makes us administrators when we switch over,” he continued. “Those of us who thought we could change the system from the inside only to realize that there’s no fixing it from up here. There are still some who try, the insiders, but most of us couldn’t stomach it. I couldn’t stomach it. That’s why we go down to the planets. Help however we can.”

“By overcharging players for their points,” I said with a scoff.

“By doing what we’re allowed to by the system,” he corrected. “We’re bound by rules. Same as you, same as the administrators. Everything has to come at a price, otherwise we’d be able to run through the scenarios ourselves and save all of you in the process. Some of us are way more jaded than others depending on how long we’ve been doing this, yeah, but we’re trying.”

I tapped my fingers against my leg as I thought it over. The treasure hunters were a diverse and eclectic bunch, but there only were few that I would call actively bad people. Misers, definitely. Grifters, for sure. Just not purposefully evil. The Dealer was the only one that I needed in this run so I hadn’t sought any others out, but I knew from experience that they were, on the whole, more than superficially helpful.

“That would mean the system goes out of its way to facilitate you guys then, doesn’t it? Like, you have the blessing of the whole thing to go out and be a part of the world.”

“That’s one way of looking at it, sure,” he answered. “It gives us a few goodies we get to play around with. Like, we already have our own light Administrator Black-out as protection, but I was able to get a boost from yours when we signed that System Contract.”

“I had wondered about that, but just chalked it up to Dealer shenanigans,” I said, nodding.

My Black-out kept them from seeing me without physically being there, but that was the Intermediate version. The Superior one, which the Dealer had in my presence specifically, made him completely invisible. I had picked that one a few times, but the administrators were always too jumpy and chaotic when I started making waves. It was better to give them a target to focus their efforts on.

“A little of column A, little of column B,” he replied with a grin. “Makes me proud that you just think I can do that on my own, though.”

“I’m glad you’re happy. Still on a time limit, though.”

“Right. We’re system-backed because we provide a service not only to players, but the Patrons, too. We may have denied our duties as administrators, but we’re still cogs in the machine. By eating Abbatrastoria, Walsard, and these peons, I’m regaining the spark of power that I lost.”

“Okay, makes sense,” I muttered. “Alright, so you did it for power. Simple. Bigger question, if the administrators are players and the treasure hunters are rebellious administrators, where do the Patrons come from?” I asked.

The Dealer opened his mouth to answer, but immediately closed it with an audible snap. He physically recoiled before shaking his head, and I could see his pupils grow wider. It looked like a fear response.

“I can’t say,” he whispered ominously. “That feeling like I was going to disappear came back the moment I tried to answer, and I’m not about to risk that. Not for you, Anthony, even if I do owe you a debt.”

I watched him for a moment before nodding. “Okay, I believe you,” I said, disappointed but willing to move on. “So what do you get by eating administrators? As in, what kind of powers. And what were you trying to do with what you made with the Mass Replicator.”

He paused as he opened his mouth as if he were testing the waters before he replied. “By eating them, I transfer their administrative access to myself. There’s a less gruesome way to do it, but that takes time and doesn’t also get rid of the evidence in the process.”

“Does that matter?” I asked as I crossed my arms again. “A missing administrator is going to be something that raises red flags regardless, isn’t it?”

Raising his hand, the Dealer waggled his scaly fingers. “A little yes, a little no,” he answered. “A handful of them go missing every iteration. Either they disappear to become treasure hunters, or get lost in the void because they’re idiots, or something else happens. The system doesn’t make a big fuss about it, so no one will know unless their duties go derelict.”

I frowned. “The void’s really that dangerous? Even to them?”

“Yup. It’s a real problem, but it’s a fact of life in the system.”

That didn’t make me feel better about the Dealer dragging me there, but I shrugged it off. “Who’s taking care of Abbatrastoria’s island?”

“I am. And I’m going to have to handle Etson, too, since they are currently without any oversight.”

“What if you get caught?” I asked, my frown deepening.

“What, worried about your pal the Dealer?” he asked, grinning.

“You might have let me fight an administrator, but you also got me into the Hall of the End to see Sara. I can be a little worried about you,” I grumbled.

“Appreciate ya, Ant,” he chuckled. “But, no. I can cut off communications to the outside. Walsard’s known for his temper, especially with how he’s been dealing with you, and him throwing a tantrum over your third place victory wouldn’t be out of character. Congrats, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

The Dealer nodded. “I’ll shutter off the control room, whip up some scenarios that seem difficult but will be a cake walk for these particular groups, and it should buy me enough time to promote some of my insiders. About a month or so, I reckon.”

“That’ll give me enough time to prepare for and defeat the Emperor of Hell,” I said.

“Fingers crossed, but yeah.”

A ripple flowed across my skin, causing me to look down. “What was that?” I asked.

“Probably the effects of the system getting tired of you being here,” he answered, standing up to look me over.

“This didn’t happen last time.”

“No, but we were on the outskirts of the administrative layer then,” he said, poking me in my side. The ripples slowed, but didn’t stop.

“That doesn’t feel like it should matter,” I protested.

“You didn’t belong there, but you especially don’t belong here,” the Dealer explained. “This is a control room meant specifically for administrators. There’s a lot of shit in here that you could break, or use to get ahead, or any number of things. If I hadn’t become this bastardization of admin and treasure hunter, I’d also be getting shunted out of here, though it’d take longer than you.”

“That fucking sucks,” I told him honestly.

“Yeah, well, I already told you the system was fickle,” he sighed. “If you have any burning questions, now’s the time for them.”

“What was so important that you had to risk my life to get the components for?” I asked immediately.

“Normally, we treasure hunters can’t make it to the administrative layer,” he answered with just as much urgency. “Getting access to a Mass Replicator is even harder.”

“Right, you already complained to me how many favors you had to burn through,” I said, remembering his words.

The Dealer nodded in confirmation. “That’s correct. It was an expensive expedition, but it was successful. I managed to get the components for a bomb that I would use to negotiate with the administrators. Get some change started with some good old fashion terrorism.”

“Would that have worked?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“It would if it meant I could destroy a good chunk of the administrative layer,” he answered with a vicious grin. “That’s still in the back pocket, by the way. I’m betting everything on you finishing things up first.”

“Why?”

“Because if I blow up the administrative layer while your planet is under so much scrutiny, then there’s a good chance that your world goes with it,” the Dealer explained.

“Don’t like that,” I sighed.

“Is there any part of this that you do like?” he asked.

“I don’t mind the superhuman parts or the psychic powers,” I admitted with a shrug. The movement caused the ripples going across my body to become stronger, and I tried to stay still. It didn’t slow them down, and it seemed like whatever the alligator was doing to me was losing effectiveness fast.

“Don’t you worry, I’m not going to blow you or your world up unless it’s absolutely necessary,” the Dealer reassured me. “I swear on my business. I’ve got too much respect for a regressor like you and your efforts, and you’re the only thing I’ve seen hurt those sons a bitches so I’ve got a good reason to keep you alive.”

“Well, thanks, man,” I said honestly, taking a breath. I checked my own aura, which was a complete and utter mess. “I’m guessing I’m almost out, huh?”

“Almost,” he confirmed. “Are you ready to go to Stanley?”

“Yeah, I’m—” I stopped myself, a thought going through my head. “Hey, wait. I asked you last time who that guy floating in the middle of the administrative layer was, but you just looked at me like I was strange. Who was he?”

The Dealer paused, looking me in the eye. “Who was who? What did they look like?”

“Like… a person,” I answered hesitantly. “I couldn’t take in all their details. They had brown eyes, but the moment we looked at each other my head started pounding and then I couldn’t find them again.”

He narrowed his eyes, watching me for any signs of madness or deception, before putting a hand on my shoulder. “Anthony, nothing survives in the void for much longer than we did,” he said firmly. “We made it inside the protection of the administrative layer shortly before it would begin plucking us apart.”

“Sounds dangerous,” I snorted.

“It was time already accounted for,” he replied with a shrug. “But no one goes out there. It was probably just your mind playing tricks on you since you weren’t used to the impossibility of it all.”

“I saw someone, Dealer,” I insisted heatedly. “I know I did.”

“Then maybe it was some administrator committing suicide, Ant. I don’t know what to tell you,” the Dealer huffed. “No one survives in the void, and no one goes out there unless they have to.”

“Like us,” I stated flatly. “You do know how lame of an answer that is, right?”

“The most likely event is that you’re misremembering,” he grumbled, taking a step back. “No matter what you thought you saw, it certainly wasn’t a per—”

“—1:40 PM train to Etson will be departing shortly,” a mechanical, feminine voice announced through the loudspeakers.

I blinked and looked around from the bench I was now sitting on, but I could no longer see like before. There was the hustle and bustle of a train station all around me, even if Stanley didn’t have a traditional passenger line, and my sudden appearance only gathered a few curious glances.

On my lap was a plate of the Dealer’s famous banana bread. My nose twitched as I remembered its glorious scent, but right now I couldn’t smell anything. Still, I appreciated the offering and started nibbling on a slice before I sent the rest into my inventory.

<<<>>>

[[Patron Message]]

Anthony, you’re back!

I got really worried when you disappeared. Are you okay? Why are you suddenly in Stanley? What happened to Seraphim?

<<<>>>

Taking a breath, I snapped away the message. “Give me a moment, love,” I said quietly before moving off to a more secure spot. “I need some time to think and process.”